Not to mention that what attracts them to a game system is completely different than what may attract an older player.

Face it, younger kids are not into the record keeping, rational roleplaying model that most Harn lovers get into. Sheesh look at some of our discussions on this forum. I've had colleagues at school see some of the posts and think I was on a historical discussion forum and not a gaming one.

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Roy Denton - the title says Baron, but Queen for a year. (Cheselyne I)

"Nathamh na hoibre an t-eolas"
(Knowledge comes through practice)

Assuming that nobody's willing to change the product itself to appeal to a particular age group (and I'm sure most of us, myself included, are among the unwilling), then I guess it's a question of where marketing efforts are best directed. This is a valid question because it can include things as subtle as cover design, ad copy wording, etc.

I'm not sure how to answer the question, but I'll start a poll...

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Keith Mann
I really must get around to changing my .sig

Amen redenton,

I think that's why I play Hârn, it just has the feel of an 'adult' game. To a younger player this may seem a bit dry being that it's low in magic and 'historically' based. I'm sure this isn't always the case, but true for the most part.

Most of the games marketed today are directed at a specific target audience. Proof in the pudding are the covers with tons of blood, comic book type action, growling werewolves, slick looking gothic vampires in leather overcoats, men in black leather overcoats carrying impossibly large pistols in each hand, Conan-esque warriors wielding ridiculously large weaponry, and the most popular, scantily clad voluptuous babes in mail bikinis.

One only has to go back to some of the original art work found on the D&D modules. Such as the redone covers for the 'D' series of adventures with large breasted Drow elves...Even blibdoolpoolp (wow, been a long time since I played that adventure...), the goddess of the Kua-toa (I know that's the wrong spelling...) had a nice body, er, even though she had a hideous head just made for a paper bag.

Yep, it's always been quite obvious who the target audience is for most role-playing games. Hârn has always been a breed apart, and I'm truly thankful for that.

Ooh Ooh!!

This one works on us older guys too, we just don't buy, just look.

You know, like when we were teenagers at the magazine rack in the local drugstore.

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Roy Denton - the title says Baron, but Queen for a year. (Cheselyne I)

"Nathamh na hoibre an t-eolas"
(Knowledge comes through practice)

Fortunately, I looked like 18 when I was 14.

OTOH, now I look like 35 when I'm actually 29...

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Florian
A most unique Ivashu

Hey, I'm 43, and I'm not into the record keeping! (Oh, and Florian, I look 29. ). Love HarnWorld (best environment anyway, bar none!), not all that keen on the rules; too much work for no real advantage to my style of play. Slows down the game, and bores the players. Which is why I switched to "you know what".

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Cheers

Leitchy
List & Forum Admin
Admin FAQs
[Updated 25-FEB-2011]

Harn is a near perfect world for GURPS. The links to other worlds, times, and dimensions, along with the Ivashu providing a a justification for any creature imaginable, along with fantasy staples lives elves-n-orcs-n-dwarves, plus a mishamash of varying human cultures all intereactings tosgethers (sic)...why, the GURPS munchkins most GURPS haters fear would chomp at the bit for such a world. As would many of the mature, responsible GURPS players.

A hypothetical GURPS Hârn worlbook could be like the Discworld books, hardbound with GURPS Lite, GURPS-on-Harn rules adaptions/extensions/extras, and the materials from Harn World and a bit of HarnPlayer. SJG has a track record for not releasing things until they are right, and (IMHO) do a pretty good job with their historical and license products.

Steve (Jackson), NRC, Grant, Tom, any of you all listening? (fervent hopes a plenty )

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"Rules are GOOD. Rules help control the fun!" -Monica Geller, Friends

Of course we're listening! Yes we do react to what you all say. It matters very much to us that you all care and take the time to share your thoughts.

Promoting HarnMaster by posting a free PDF is intended to put it in the hands of a lot of people who would otherwise never see it. In the past we did a similar promotion with HarnWorld and we moved out 2000+ over about a year. Since 10PM PST last night there have been more than 2,000 downloads. Good start!

There is no intention to adjust Harn to appeal to a younger or different crowd. There are plenty of other ways to stay in business.

We have explored Gurps harn with Steve Jackson but he backed out. That was years ago. For the time being there's no chance of any licensing deals

Please continue to spread the word about HarnMaster. "SPAM" all your friends : )

Grant Dalgliesh

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Grant Dalgliesh

Columbia Games, Inc.
http://www.columbiagames.com

Sheesh, why can't the women I date say stuff like that?



Holy crap!



I think GURPS Hârn is a good idea, or an alternative liscensing agreement, provided the quality of such a product would meet Hârnic standards. I think SJG could do Hârn justice should they get interested in doing that in the future.

-Mark

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Putting the "Ho" in Hodiri since 1998.
The Forge: Western Martial Arts

They probably do, you're just not paying attention. Or thats what always happens to me..

Scott

Well it worked, at least for me - though maybe not entirely in the way one would expect. I stumbled on Hârn through a fan's website (the unfortunately soon to be extinct harnmaster.net), and I checked out the company site. The fact that the rules were downloadable was definitively the clincher. However, after reading them, I decided that I was not fond of most of them (but it was allright since I had got them for free), AND they made me very interested in the gameworld itself, so I placed my first purchase.

The fan sites helped a lot as well.



As someone said elsewhere on this thread, there is nothing wrong with 15 year olds liking and playing Hârn - as long as the game itself is not designed exclusively for this target audience.

I have to admit I was still a teenager when I first encountered Harn and was besotted.

I was 18 myself when Harn came out in 1983. (I'll pause while you all do the math.)

The Harnic summer of '83 to today, I've never looked back.